KUWAIT TO QATAR
Crossing Saudi Arabia
25th November - 29th November | 2023
I extended my stay for another day as Mr Jafar invited me to have lunch today with his family and friends. Wow, how nice is that! I was so stoked to be invited by him. I was a bit worried about the dress code, so I went to a nearby well-known fashion shop to get myself a blouse for the event - well, in the end, I figured out, I could have gone in a t-shirt ;-)
At lunch time his driver picked me up and took me to Mr. Jafar's family house. It was so nice to meet his lovely wife, their other children, grandchildren and their best friends. It was such a lovely afternoon with very interesting conversations - not talking about the delicious lunch. I was impressed by how uncomplicated everybody was and that I had overthought my dress code.
In the afternoon Salem texted me that I had to come back to the showroom of Tristar for 18h00. Have I missed something? As no plans, of course, I went :-D There were two other (French) overlanders at the showroom: Didier and Franck. It was so great to meet them as they have already travelled independently to a lot of countries and continents. Salem arranged that we all go to dinner in the old town, Marta and Lourenço, the Italians, joining us too! How fantastic is that! I followed them on my motorbike as they all went by car.
It was such a lovely dinner with so many different travel or biking stories. Unfortunately, Mr Jafar or Abdul could not join us, but we had a lot of fun being such a multicultural group. With a full belly and happy stories, I went back to the hotel and crashed into my bed.
The next morning, after breakfast and bike packed up, Abdul came to say Goodbye. It was such a pity that he was so busy with work as he wanted to know so much about overlanding as his dream is to do the original Dakar route. However, I am so grateful for his help in getting me in touch with Tristar and servicing my bike. I hope we will meet one day again, on the road…
As he recommended that I visit the Al-Qurain Martyrs Museum I stopped there on the way to the border. It was a little “reminder” of the Iraq war. As much as it was interesting to read the story about the house and its people, it was very depressing reading about that awful war, which I can remember from the daily news back in the day. It is again so weird suddenly being in such a historic place during my travels.
As anticipated, the border crossing didn't go smoothly. The “problem” was that I didn't get the Carnet de Passagem stamped when entering Kuwait. I tried to explain that I passed here only a few days ago and nobody was interested in my CdP! I had to see a superior who didn't speak any English, so he got one of the Truck drivers (I only found out later) to deal with me, to do a phone call with someone else. I was so fed up with all this fuzz that I said to the man on the phone “Just give me the fxxxing customs paper and let the Saudis deal with the shxt!” Not sure if that did the trick, but 5mins later someone else came and not 10mins later I got the customs paper. They couldn't find my registration again in the system, but that gentleman found a way around it, and he spoke English. That was what annoyed me, EVERYBODY in Kuwait I spoke to spoke fantastic English and here at the border suddenly NOBODY speaks English! Anyhow, within 2 hours I was back in Saudi Arabia, back to the boring straight roads down to Qatar.
I picked a camping spot in the area where I met Laura and Chris. This time it looked much better as there was a little hill and it looked like you could hide a bit from the main road. As it was a sandy dirt track to the spot you also could see that it hasn't been used recently. I was really satisfied with this camping spot and started to set up my tent. And bang, my tent pole snapped in half! Seriously!! You must be kidding me! I tried to fix it with duct tape, but the pressure was too strong. So finally after 1hrs, I had to give up and pack up.
As there is nothing until Damman or Al Khobar that meant another night ride, in the dark! Looking forward to that one - and the hotel room hunt!! I fueled up at the nearby fuel station and looked in google for the “nearest” hotels within my budget. When I just hopped on my bike, a young Bedouin in his jeep stopped next to me. He was such a nice guy, inviting me to their camp and dinner. I denied it, even though it would have been interesting, but being a woman I felt uncomfortable with the situation. These are the moments you wish to be a man! He still gave me some food and then he drove off.
I found a hotel in Al Jubail that fit into my budget. And to my surprise that hotel had windows that I could even open the curtains to look out! What a rarity here in Saudi Arabia! Well, at least in the majority of hotels I stayed! I was so tired that I went to bed shortly after. However, my head was spinning on how to resolve the problem of my tent pole as I cannot stay in a hotel every night during the next 3 weeks! I still want to do some camping!
In the morning, whilst I had my breakfast in the room, I figured out that I would try to get the repair on warranty. I found out that MSR gives you 3 years and I am still within that time limit! I even found a contact in Portugal, so I asked James to contact them for me to get an email for me.
As I was already in contact with the Ibis Hotel in Doha, Qatar, about my stay, I requested to arrive a day earlier. Later that day I would get the confirmation for that, so I only needed one more night here in Saudi Arabia as still a long way to Qatar.
On my way South, I visited the huge library of Ithra (www.https://www.ithra.com) close to Al Khobar. It was a recommendation of Melinda and her family and it was indeed impressive - so many books! And the building is a very nice construction, looking like stones.
After that, I went to Al Hofuf, where I tried my luck with the hotel I stayed at some days ago on my way North. I was lucky, the guy from the luggage recognised me and managed to get the same rate for the night as last time. Perfect, as I didn't need to do more searching around. The only thing I still have to resolve is my tent for the remaining days. I suddenly had a brain wave and searched for Decathlon AND there are various in Doha. How lucky is that?! So tomorrow I will get a small tent at Decathlon and then hopefully get my MSR tent repaired while I am back at home.
At about 10am I finally left the hotel and went towards the border of Qatar. Today was a very windy day. On the boring long road, I met a local biker and he wanted to go with me to the border. I knew already my speed would be too boring for him and after a while, he drove off. However, at the entrance roundabout of the border, he waited for me. Like that, I cannot get lost ;-) We finally got “separated” at the Visa department as I needed to go to a different building for the visa on arrival (VOA).
The whole border process did not take me longer than 60mins - which probably means, there will be something on the exiting ;-) The biker I saw again at the last gate was discussing with an official. I only could wave to him as they made me go through. Amazing, I as a European got faster through than someone from GCC!
My first stop in Doha was the nearest Decathlon where I found the same model of tent I bought last year in Croatia. It is though the updated version, so it shouldn't let any light in and reflect the sun!
Then I went to Ibis Doha for check-in. This time I couldn’t escape taking my luggage up to the room. This was a mistake as after 1hr it still hasn't arrived. On arrival, it would have been nice to have a shower and get into some “fresh” clothes. After requesting at the reception I received my luggage within 5mins! Thanks!!
Sorry for such a few pictures, especially of the lunch at Mr. Jafers but I do respect some privacy - I hope you can understand that. And again, the long straight roads are not offering much to take pictures of, unfortunately! In Doha, I will meet a lot of different bikers, so get ready for some more pictures in the next blog next week! In the meantime enjoy a nicely brewed Karak Chai!
Places | Cities:
KUWAIT:
Kuwait City.
SAUDI ARABIA:
Al Jubail, Al Khobar, Damman
QATAR:
Doha
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 33660 km
Information Border Crossings:
EXITING KUWAIT:
They would like to see a Carnet de Passagem (CdP)
QATAR ENTERING:
Passport
Visa on arrival (VOA) possible
3rd party insurance mandotory
CdP stamping
All very easy and smooth
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Mr Jafar and the whole family for their hospitality - what a lovely family.
Salem and Abdul for looking after me during my stay.